The Lazy Earth Theory

A new study has simulated the formation of strike-slip faults in Earth’s crust, revealing new insight on how these earthquake-generating structures develop over time.

The researchers investigated a hypothesis known as ‘Lazy Earth,’ which suggests that faults take the easiest path for growth.

But, while they did find evidence to support the idea that faults evolve to increase their efficiency, they also found some ‘surprising’ phenomena at play.

The experiments showed that faults ‘shut off alo...